Both the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets picked up Thursday where they left off prior to the Olympic Break.
But only the Islanders were rewarded with two points — which puts the Blue Jackets in the more urgent position when New York visits Columbus on Saturday.
Both teams were off Friday after returning to action on the road Thursday night. The Islanders overcame an early two-goal deficit to edge the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in overtime, while the Blue Jackets’ seven-game winning streak ended with a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.
The win was the third straight for the Islanders, who once again displayed the resilience and mix of youth and experience that has defined their surprising surge into contention.
New York, which missed the playoffs by nine points last year, entered Friday in third place in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, four points ahead of the Washington Capitals and six points clear of the Blue Jackets in the race for the division’s final guaranteed playoff spot.
Defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 pick in last June’s draft and the overwhelming favorite to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie, scored twice in a span of 55 seconds Thursday to even the score late in the second. Schaefer’s 18 goals are the most in NHL history for a defenseman 18 years old or younger and the most in franchise history for a rookie defenseman.
Anders Lee, appearing in his 900th NHL game, redirected Bo Horvat’s shot with 1:41 left to force overtime before 33-year-old Jean-Gabriel Pageau collected the game-winner 1:46 into overtime.
The Islanders are 7-0 in games decided in overtime after going 5-9 in overtime last season.
“Character — that’s the first word I have in mind, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “I mean, they’re fun to watch. Even if we were down two goals, I felt we were composed and we just kept playing our game.”
Few teams had more fun entering the Olympic Break than the Blue Jackets, who outscored their opponents 30-13 during the seven-game surge while improving to 10-1-0 since Rick Bowness replaced Dean Evason as head coach Jan. 12.
The Blue Jackets displayed little rust Thursday night, when they racked up 20 shots in the first period and took the lead on Kirill Marchenko’s goal at the 4:32 mark. Columbus outshot the Bruins 40-23 overall, but Boston’s Victor Arvidsson, Morgan Geekie and Sean Kuraly scored three consecutive goals over a span of 35-plus minutes bridging the three periods.
The loss dropped the Blue Jackets six points behind the Bruins in the race for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Columbus was in last place in the East, seven points out of a wild-card spot and seven points back of the third-place Philadelphia Flyers, when Bowness took over for Evason.
“You play that way, you’re going to win a lot of games,” Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. “I feel like everything’s kind of gone right for us the last 12 games. Even when we weren’t necessarily maybe playing our best, we were winning games. And (Thursday), we play one of our better games, and it just didn’t work out. That’s hockey.”
–Field Level Media
